


reassurance

by rishutt



Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-17
Updated: 2019-09-17
Packaged: 2020-10-20 17:42:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,699
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20679344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rishutt/pseuds/rishutt
Summary: Toku needs a moment away from the celebration after the fight with Hades, and decides to look for G'raha.





	reassurance

**Author's Note:**

> WOW it's been a hot minute. i didn't mean to take months to post another fic. anyways, hope you enjoy!

She’s a bit overwhelmed.

The festivities after their groups return to the Crystarium have continued well into the late night hours, but the crowd has dwindled enough that Toku manages to slip away unnoticed at last. She has no distaste towards celebrations, but the praises and congratulations can become a bit much for the Warrior of Light, er, _Darkness_, especially after such a hard-won clash.

Besides, she had noticed at some point that she’d stopped seeing the Exarch’s form amongst his people, and the xaela grew worried. He’d suffered quite the injuries at the hands of Emet-Selch, and despite Y’shtola’s quick treatment on the Kholusia beach and his following visit to the spagyrics, Toku was still anxious about his condition. He’d been shot, for Nhaama’s sake.

That, and, they hadn’t had a proper conversation since, well... since Mt Gulg. If you could call their exchange a conversation.

Her search didn't take long, spotting him as she exited the Wandering Stairs towards the Airship Launch. G'raha Tia stands underneath one of those beautiful purple trees, scanning the stars above mindlessly, his head free of his cowl, and his staff nowhere in sight. The scene reminds her of time spent with him years ago, and much longer for the man himself, watching the sky of Mor Dhona change with those swirls of purple after a long day of exploration in the Crystal Tower. She longs to relive those moments with him, and more.

As she approaches closer, his red ears flick, and he turns towards her, a smile gracing his features despite the hell he went through not many hours ago. Toku smiles back.

"My friend! What brings you away from the celebration?"

"G'raha." He stiffens at the sound of his name, and her lips turn to a smirk. "You are allowed to say my name, you know. You have before."

"I... Right." He exhales through his nose, having held his breath for a moment. "Forgive me, my- uh, Toku. I apologize."

"_Your _Toku? Oh, I see."

His face flushes pink, and begins to stumble over his words, but ceases when the xaela places a hand on his arm. She chuckles, covering her mouth with her hand as if to hide it, but her eyes can't hide her sly expression.

"Sorry, sorry! I was just teasing."

G'raha clears his throat as he wills his face to cool off, and he turns his head away from her. "I'd forgotten how cruel you can sometimes be."

"Are you pouting?"

"No."

"Hmmm. Okay." It's clear she doesn't believe him, but she lets it slide for now. "Are you doing alright? Are you sure you shouldn't be resting?"

"I'm quite alright, after everyone tending to my wounds. You needn't worry." This time she pouts, as if to say _I will anyway_, but he doesn't acknowledge it. "How are you faring? Was the celebration getting a bit... much? The people of the Crystarium can get quite _wild_, as they say."

"It's not the fault of the people, sometimes I just need to... get away, I suppose." Her attention turns to the stars, watching as they twinkle. She can't tell if they fall on the same pattern as the Source. "It can be a bit tiring. I don't mind being the Warrior of Darkness or Light for people who need it, but it can be... weary."

They're both silent for a moment, G'raha carefully considering his next words. "Toku, I am sorry for making you be the hero again."

Toku turns back towards him. "G'raha," she smiles. "It's okay. You were desperate, you were all desperate. You needed a hero, and I'd never be able to refuse you. But..."

The au ra woman moves her gaze to the grass beneath their feet, her expression pained.

“I had my suspicions, but you didn’t tell me who you were. Because- because you knew I’d try to stop you, just like...” Toku fades off, but she doesn’t need to finish for him to know immediately what she refers to.

_"No doubt your heroism will be the star by which I chart my course when I wake."_

_"Don't go," she tried, desperately, to pry the hands off her arms, to run forward before the towering gate locked shut before them. "Please!"_

_"Toku-" _

_As the doors approached each other closer, she broke free from Cid's grasp, stumbling as she struggled to make the distance._

_But she was already too late, the gap too small for a person to go through, and her hands unable to keep them from closing. All she could do was look at him, G'raha, just a few fulms away, and accept the reality._

_He smiled at her, and began to turn away._

_"I'll miss you."_

_And the gate shut._

“Yes,” he tries to hide his guilt and his sorrow in his practiced Exarch-guise, but cannot stop the shake of his voice, the light trembling of his hands at his sides, “like before.”

He expects... well, he isn’t quite sure what he expects. For her to be angry with him? Upset? Something. But G’raha doesn’t anticipate her small, calloused hands to grab his own and hold them between their forms. Her grip is loose, allowing him to break free, he supposed, but he thinks he’d... rather not. Despite that thought, he doesn’t know what to do, so he simply waits for her. She eyes their joined hands as she begins to speak again.

“I understand. I do, because you were right. I would have stopped you. Even if you were a _stranger_, I would have. And I guess I _did_, in the end,” her fingers tighten around his as she chuckles. He stares at her, processing, wavering, wondering how to respond, until her eyes finally meet his again, and the expression on her face makes him feel like his heart has either stopped or won’t stop pounding.

Forgiveness, sorrow... _something else_.

“I was... angry before, when the Echo showed me your discussion with Urianger. Not with you, just angry that... you felt you had to do what you did. But now I am only sad that you had to bare such burdens near alone.” She smiles at him now, and he thinks it’s brighter than any sun, star, or pure Light could ever hope to shine. “I would wish that you share them with me from now on, Raha.”

And his hands finally squeeze hers back, as his breath hitches and he attempts to hold back his tears yet again. He wants to respond, to return her sentiment, but his throat refuses to produce anything but short sobs, and he just grips her hands harder, like a lifeline.

The warrior, his precious warrior, _his Toku_, he dares to think, brings her hands to his face to wipe his tears, gently cradling his cheeks as she looks into his eyes, those deep red Royal Eyes. “It’s okay,” she coos as her hands slide down from his face to his shoulders, and she hugs him, _holds him_. “It’s alright now.”

He wonders if this is real. If this isn’t a figment of his imagination, of his wild desire to see her after his long slumber, after these long, agonizing years of seeking her out. G’raha wraps his arms around her middle, holding the small au ra like she might disappear.

His legs shake, beginning to grow weak from his outburst, and Toku slowly lowers them both to the ground, without separating from him even an inch. She leans against the base of the tree behind them as she gently pets his head, strokes his ears, rubs his back, and soon his mewling quiets down, all but small sniffles as he keeps his head on her shoulder.

And here they are, holding each other under a tree in a secluded part of the Crystarium, the miqo’te half-sitting upon the au ra’s lap, something he quietly finds funny considering her shorter stature.

Until he realizes the position they’re in, and he quickly becomes nervous. He still has his arms tight around her, he is sat upon her thighs which are somehow both soft and hard with strong muscle, and his face is in her shoulder where his nose can do naught but breathe in her scent. _She still smells of those flowers she likes_. _What were they called again...?_

“Raha?” At her questioning voice, he snaps out of his thoughts and realizes that he had moved his nose to the base of her neck, and he jumps backwards away from her head, removing his arms from her to cover his now flustered face with his hands.

“I- I’m so sorry! Please forgive me, I do not know what came over me,” he begins to lift himself up, off of her lap, but two powerful arms wrap around his waist and grip his robes, pulling him back down, and he makes a noise not unlike a squeak.

“Raha, look at me.” Toku’s hands move to hold his wrists, but they do not pull, and her thumbs rub comforting circles along his skin(and crystal), easing him to trust her to show his face. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”

He lowers his hands, revealing his blush-stained face, and he hesitantly looks her in the eyes. She cradles his cheeks again.

“It’s okay, Raha.”

He brings his non-crystallized hand to her cheek, careful of her horn, and just touches, just lets himself feel her, lets his thumb rub her smooth cheek and her tougher scales. It almost seemed too much. Almost. “I didn’t- I didn’t think I’d ever-“ _Get to do this, with you._

“I know,” she doesn’t wait for him to get the words out, she already knows what he means to say, “I didn’t think so either.”

Whoever leaned forward first, they would never know. And it didn’t matter.

—

They had bid farewells, before G’raha opened the rift back to the Source, back to her home, but they both still linger.

Silence, for they didn’t need words anymore. The exchange of looks were enough now.

As Toku takes the steps up towards the shining portal, she smiles at her companion, expression warm like the sun, full of love, and he understands.

_Be back soon._


End file.
